Psychopathology L2 - Definition Of Abnormality: Failure To Function Adequately

Question 1

Who came up with the model of failure to function adequately?

Answer 1

Rosenhan and Seligman

Question 2

Definition of failure to function adequately

Answer 2

This is a model of abnormality based on the fact that the person is unable to cope with day to day life, like having a job or interacting well with others as they are experiencing psychological distress and discomfort

Question 3

What are the effects of failing to function adequately?

Answer 3

• Impacts personal, social and occupational life
• Romantic relationships
• if they don’t have a job it may limit social interactions
• may feel disconnected with friends, less shared experiences/in common, hard to be friends with the, won’t be good friends (possibly) can’t help friends

Question 4

Examples of failure to function adequately

Answer 4

• can’t have a job e.g. Gerald - had schizophrenia
• may not have many friends - feel disconnected, no shared experience, can’t help them when feeling sad

Question 5

What is used to assess the rates of social, occupational and psychological functioning?

Answer 5

GAF - Global assessment of functioning scale

Question 6

How to figure out if someone isn’t functioning adequately

Answer 6

• if a person seeks psychological help then they could be classed as suffering in a sense from psychological distress/discomfort
• recognising they aren’t functioning adequately could be an indicator of abnormality
• in society there are expectations about how we live our lives (e.g. having a job), if a person can’t fulfil these obligations they can be seen as not functioning adequately

Question 7

What does the model have to help define mental abnormality

Answer 7

• 7 criteria - when several are present at the same time, the person can be seen as abnormal
• higher the no, the more abnormal a person is

Question 8

What are the 7 criteria

Answer 8

SUMOVIV
- Suffering
- Unpredictability & loss of control
- Maladaptiveness
- Observer discomfort
- Vividness & Unconventionality
- Irrationality and incomprehensibility
- Violation of moral & ideal standards

Question 9

Suffering

Answer 9

A person may be suffering psychologically or physically as they have a psychological abnormality that is having a negative effect on them
E.g. thinking that everyone is out to get you

Question 10

Unpredictability & loss of control

Answer 10

Behaviour is varied and uncontrolled - also inappropriate
Generally behaviour is random
E.g. Gerald having random thoughts (schizophrenia)

Question 11

Maladaptiveness

Answer 11

Unable to have a life with ‘normal expectations’ & achieving major life goals
Affects functioning everyday as they have behavioural problems
E.g. good working relationships/effectively - not possible due to schizophrenia

Question 12

Observer discomfort

Answer 12

Those who see social norms being broken often experience discomfort
- could also be due to a difference in culture e.g. taking shoes off
E.g. Gerald’s thoughts were random and changing often

Question 13

Vividness and unconventionality

Answer 13

Different views/mannerisms/behaviour from most people
However this could also be the same for non-conformists/eccentrics
E.g. anorexia, Gerald playing with his hair/saying things randomly

Question 14

Irrationality and incomprehensibility

Answer 14

It isn’t clear/people don’t understand why others are behaving in a certain way
E.g. blurting things out randomly/switching topics for no reason

Question 15

Violation of moral and ideal standards

Answer 15

When behaviour goes against moral standards
However often people fail to maintain standards which can be seen as out of date
E.g. Letito eating razor blades

Question 16

Evaluation of failure to function adequately (2 of each)

Answer 16

Disadvantages
Abnormality isn’t always accompanied by disfunction
7 criteria are problematic - subjective

Advantages
Accurately assess degree of abnormality
Easy to measure consequences in order to measure psychological functioning

Question 17

Abnormality isn’t always accompanied by dysfunction

Answer 17

A disadvantage of using Failure to Function Adequately as a definition of abnormality is that abnormality is not always accompanied by dysfunction
Some people do have a psychological abnormality, but they still appear to lead a normal life and do not have any of the 7 criteria proposed by Rosenhan and Seligman
An example is that Harold Shipman committed many murders, but still appeared to function adequately and normally in everyday life
On the other hand, some people might appear to not be functioning adequately at all, but they might actually be quite normal and just might be having a bad day
Therefore failure to function adequately might be an inaccurate definition of abnormality

Question 18

7 criteria can be problematic - subjective

Answer 18

They are difficult to measure and analyse
The 7 criteria used in this definition can be very problematic as they are very difficult to measure and analyse.
For instance how can we really judge if someone is suffering or not - How much suffering should they be experiencing
The model is very subjective and lacks being scientific and objective which means that psychologists need to be cautious when using the model to define abnormality
There might also be occasions when some of the criteria should be adhered to because it would be the normal or right thing to do
An example is that if a close relative passes away, then it would be acceptable for people to show signs of suffering rather than not

Question 19

Accurately assess degree of abnormality

Answer 19

An advantage of this model is that using the GAF scale (Global assessment of functioning scale) along with the 7 criteria means that psychologists can accurately assess the degree of abnormality and how well the patient is/or is not coping with their daily life
If the patient appears to not be coping very well in their social/occupational life then it could be concluded that the patient is not functioning adequately and is therefore abnormal

Question 20

It’s easy to assess the consequences of failure to function adequately in order to measure the level of psychological functioning

Answer 20

A positive point about this model is that it is relatively easy to assess the consequences of failure to function adequately in order to measure the level of psychological functioning
Examples include people that are absent from work a great deal, or people that cannot perform regular tasks such as interacting with others adequately, might indicate that the person is falling to function adequately
This could indicate that the person has an abnormality of some kind